This invention relates generally to the field of telephone systems, and more particularly, to telephone wiring interchange equipment, and specifically to a device and method for interconnecting a plurality of analog phones with a single telephone line.
Locations such as offices, manufacturing complexes, and apartment buildings may contain numerous telephones at numerous locations. The various telephones are connected to incoming telephone lines, with each telephone line being serviced by the international telephone system and accessible via a unique telephone number. A single location may have a plurality of incoming telephone lines, and the interconnection of telephones and incoming telephone lines may need to change periodically as the number, location and requirements of the location occupants change. This interconnection is typically accomplished via a central telephone interchange wiring panel or terminal board installed at the site. One such terminal board is a model 110 wiring block supplied by Lucent Technologies, Inc. Each telephone or telephone outlet for the location is hard-wired to a 110 style wiring block. The front side of the 110 style wiring block may be provided with punch down connecting blocks. An incoming telephone line may be connected to a given telephone by connecting the incoming line to the connecting block corresponding to the desired telephone. This connection is accomplished by pushing the insulated incoming telephone line wire down into a selected groove formed in the connecting block termination using a special punch down tool. A pair of metallic knife edge conductors disposed within the groove cut into the insulation and make electrical contact with the telephone wire as it is forced into the groove. Subsequently, the incoming telephone wire may be removed from the termination by simply pulling the wire out of the groove, thereby allowing the respective telephone to be connected to a different incoming telephone line.
In some applications, a plurality of telephones are connected in parallel to a single incoming telephone line. This type of connection is common in manufacturing plants where a large physical space is serviced by a single incoming telephone line, and where it is desirable to have more than one telephone within the space in order to make it more convenient for users to access the telephone line. It is also common to have this type of connection in an office environment where a plurality of offices are provided with telephones, but there are less incoming telephone lines than there are telephones, thus necessitating the sharing of phone lines among several offices. If digital telephone service is provided in these applications, a simple programming change is all that is required to interconnect several telephones in parallel to a single incoming telephone line. However, if analog service is being used, all interconnections must be made manually at the central telephone interchange wiring panel. The process of making such connections is labor intensive, as described above. Furthermore, the use of the special punch down tool and the handling of the small telephone wires makes this work very difficult for some physically challenged workers.
Thus there is a particular need for an apparatus and method that simplifies the interconnection of a plurality of telephones to a single telephone line.
A connector is described herein for making parallel connections among a plurality of wire pair terminations disposed along a length of a punch down wiring block for a telephone system. The connector includes: a body having a length adapted to extend along the length of the wiring block and adapted for attachment to the wiring block in a connected position; a first conductor disposed along the length of the body; a second conductor electrically isolated form the first conductor and disposed along the length of the body; a first plurality of conductive pins connected to the first conductor and projecting from the body to make electrical contact with first alternate ones of the wiring block wire terminations when the body is in the connected position; and a second plurality of conductive pins connected to the second conductor and projecting from the body to make electrical contact with second alternate ones of the wiring block wire terminations when the body is in the connected position.
A method is disclosed herein for connecting a plurality of analog phones in parallel to a single incoming telephone line. The method includes: identifying a plurality of adjacent wire pair terminations disposed along a length of a punch down wiring block, the plurality of wire pair terminations connected to a respective plurality of analog telephones; connecting an incoming telephone line to one of the plurality of adjacent wire pair terminations; providing a connector adapted for attachment across the plurality of adjacent wire pair terminations, the connector comprising: a body having a length adapted to extend along the length of the wiring block and adapted for attachment to the wiring block in a connected position; a first conductor disposed along the length of the body; a second conductor electrically isolated form the first conductor and disposed along the length of the body; a first plurality of conductive pins connected to the first conductor and projecting from the body to make electrical contact with first alternate ones of the wiring block wire terminations when the body is in the connected position; and a second plurality of conductive pins connected to the second conductor and projecting from the body to make electrical contact with second alternate ones of the wiring block wire terminations when the body is in the connected position; and installing the connector into the connected position to connect the respective plurality of analog telephones in parallel to the incoming telephone line.